The Australian pianist, Sally Mays, won the Clarke Scholarship in Australia and came to study at the Royal College of Music in London, where she won all the prizes open to pianists, including the Chappell Gold Medal.
Sally Mays is an international pianist, renowned for her playing of contemporary music, particularly of Australian composers. She performs and broadcasts as a soloist and chamber musician throughout the world (UK, the Continent, the Far East and New Zealand) and returns annually to work in Australia.
Sally Mays has had many works written for her and has made annual broadcasts for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation featuring these pieces. Composers who have written for her include Helen Gifford, Eric Gross, David Sutton Anderson, Geoffrey Grey and Gordon Carr. Her chamber music ensembles include Sounds Positive, Hermes Ensemble and LaVolta Trio. As well as performing with Paul Goodey, she plays duos with the clarinettist Linda Merrick, the saxophonist Melanie Henry, and the flautist Simon Desorgher.
Sally Mays is a much sought-after teacher and examiner, and is also the editor of the five-volume series of graded Contemporary Australian Piano Music (Currency Press, Sydney) which has been described as 'the Australian Microcosmos', a reference to Béla Bartók's famous work. She is currently preparing more books of contemporary Australian piano music for more advanced performers. She teaches at Goldsmith's College and has also lectured at Grinnell-in-London.
Sally Mays is also represented on CD by Continuum, Jade Records, Orientis, the Canberra School of Music (Anthology of Australian Music), and NMC's disc of piano compositions by Edwin
Roxburgh. |